- 43 minutes ago
Chase Hughes from Monumental Sports was on site in Chicago for the NBA Combine, and weighs in on how the top prospects looked.
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00:00to get out to the rude guest hotline bring in our buddy from monumental chase hughes chase
00:05hey what's going on guys uh b-mitch you would appreciate this today i'm gonna kick off uh
00:12crab season so i'm looking i'm looking forward to that uh-oh there you go you're cooking them
00:17or you go and buy them oh i'm not cooking them you know you probably know this better than anyone
00:22it just makes your house smell like crabs so that's why you do it outside yeah
00:33so chase you've been in uh chicago right for all of the stuff going down with the nba draft lottery
00:38nba combine what were some of your takeaways obviously the whiz get the number one pick but
00:41seeing the guys work out and everything at the combine what'd you make of it
00:46yeah uh i think a very impressive combine i mean you never want to make too much of like the
00:51athletic
00:52measurements and you know how high guys people jump the more you look back at the history of
00:56the combine you can sort of see that some of that stuff doesn't matter as much as you might think
01:01it's face value but um i think it confirmed that this draft class has a special group of athletes
01:07at the top i think all four of the top prospects aj davansa darren peterson cam boozer and caleb wilson
01:13did something that would catch your eye and be like whoa that's unusual for someone their size
01:19davansa in particular i mean it is unbelievable i'm just running the numbers right now i'm gonna write
01:24a story six eight and a half without shoes 42 inch vertical leap so he's basically the same height
01:30as dwight howard but jumps higher than derrick rose and the most ridiculous thing i found so far is he
01:36had the same three-quarter court sprint as john wall so i think we're talking about one of the best
01:42athletes to ever come into the nba and if you're looking at this century maybe right after lebron and
01:47what was it about uh caleb wilson that made you go wow can a guy you know that guy could
01:56do that
01:58well he measured in a little bit taller than i thought he's uh about six nine without shoes uh
02:05which means he's going to be six ten plus on the court and it's tough to tell you know i
02:10watched a
02:11lot of his games this year i watched him go up against cameron boozer of course duke unc
02:15and the angle of the you know the television camera you can't tell who's taller but he's a
02:19little bit taller than cam boozer so i think that's worth noting um pretty fast and also uh close to
02:26a
02:2640 inch vertical leap also not normal for a guy that size like you just don't see athletes like this
02:32come around very often and it's crazy because he's been overshadowed a little bit by dabansa who's even
02:38more special in that regard that like peterson came out and talked about the creatine what was that
02:43conference i'm sure you're there people were discussing that what was the conversation like
02:50yeah so i was uh there for peterson's entire press conference and he was asked about that
02:55and the most interesting thing he said is that teams aren't asking him about it he said he was
02:59kind of surprised by that but he had done an uh an interview with espn recently where he kind of
03:05cleared up some of those questions uh blamed it on creatine uh he said during the press conference that
03:11you know when he got to kansas they wanted them to bulk up and they were giving him creatine and
03:15smoothies and that led to cramps and it was basically cramps around his entire body and so
03:21he he mentioned that a little bit explained it further and then said yes surprisingly teams aren't
03:27even really asking me about that talking with chase hughes from monumental here on bmitch and finley
03:32i think that you'll appreciate this bmitch so they had the interviews the last couple of days
03:37and generally it's a casual setting i saw chase write about this in his story guys usually showing
03:42up in shorts and a t-shirt or their workout equipment whatever aj dabansa showed up in a suit and
03:47tie
03:48ready to roll like a number one overall pick what did you make of aj he seems like such an
03:52impressive
03:52individual yeah i thought that was really cool um you know i i haven't seen that before i've been in
03:59this setting probably four or five times it's usually very casual and he said that he treated the
04:04whole day like a job interview he'd met with some teams that morning and his father was like well
04:09it's a job interview why don't you dress up like it's a job interview so he put on a suit
04:14and tie
04:14um he said that he's never had a job before because he's been taking basketball very serious since he was
04:2013 years old the closest thing he ever had to a job and this is relates to him and his
04:24dad when he played
04:26in the mcdonald's all-american game last year his dad uh implored him to work a shift at mcdonald's so
04:31he worked the drive-through at a mcdonald's and was handed out fries and and shakes and so he
04:38daddy he's not gonna have to do that take this no no he's not gonna have to do that i
04:42don't think
04:42he's ever gonna have a real job again uh because yeah exactly but so he wanted to kind of embrace
04:48the entire process and do what anyone else would do if they had a job interview but tell them what
04:52this is what happened in the job interview for the nba make the shots flush the ball and block other
04:58people's shot that suit don't make one bit of difference now when you get off of it be sharp
05:03be sharp yeah be sharp right what's your feel you know we had discussion we were talking about this
05:09yesterday a little bit of would the wizards consider trading back to two with the jazz understanding how
05:15much utah at least the the link there of wanting aj to bonsa what's your feel on that do you
05:20think
05:20that's something that the wizards are going to truly consider or do you think they end up sticking
05:25and picking at one how do you feel about that situation there i definitely think they're going
05:30to consider it i mean michael winger i think has indicated that on the record you have to consider
05:34it right it's part of due diligence you gotta know what your options are and so i think they'll weigh
05:39their options but i don't think they have really zeroed in on either of these players yet and so i
05:44think
05:44they got to figure that out first and they've got some time and i think once they determine which guy
05:49they want um if it's someone they feel like they can get it too i think that becomes a more
05:53viable
05:54option but you know just looking at the face of it it doesn't happen often where the number one pick
05:59uh is traded i think there's a lot of reasons for that you know it's a very rare opportunity to
06:04select
06:05first uh and to just have your pick of all the players i mean think about it how unique that
06:09is
06:10within an executive's career you don't get to do that in free agency or trades really this is what
06:15your one opportunity and happens to be a great draft class so um you know michael winger and will
06:19dockets probably see this through their experiences maybe a once in a career opportunity right and then
06:25it's also risky i mean it doesn't happen often and when it does sometimes it backfires you know
06:30the last time the first pick was traded it was markel fultz the celtics who were run by danny
06:36ainge at the time of course he's in utah they moved back got jason tatum didn't work out for the
06:40sixers very well so sometimes you don't want to overthink it you got that one pick at a great draft
06:45class you know take the guy you want but if they feel like they can get that guy at two
06:49or maybe
06:49three or four i i definitely think they'll consider it but i think if the guy the other people want
06:54is the one that you know some people say there is not a clear cut number one some people lean
07:01towards
07:02the benzer some people leave the book towards peterson but if the team behind you wants what's
07:08come i'm gonna manipulate that get something out of it yeah i mean how much or how
07:15bad did they want that's what i'm saying whatever player it is right exactly they really love him
07:19they could probably have him and i'm gonna get something for it right right you just got to be
07:24very sure of your evaluation if you're moving back that the guy you're getting could be better or at
07:29least the package could it at a minimum work in your favor depending on what you you also get because
07:34obviously if you're moving back from one you know you're gonna have to pay a price to do that
07:38totally chase for you as an evaluator not asking like what winger and them are going to do but just
07:43for
07:44you specifically when you look at the top two guys which would be debonsa and peterson and the
07:49downsides of the two guys for peterson it's this creatine cramping injury thing and you know some
07:58people are wondering whether you know he's checking himself out of games that stuff doesn't bother me
08:02as much when he comes to the nba so it's more so an injury related thing and on the floor
08:06i mean
08:06there's not many weaknesses in his game versus aj debonsa you don't have to worry about the the injury
08:11stuff or off court things it's more so what is this three-point shot going to look like in defense
08:16when you're evaluating and you're trying to make a decision if you were making the number one overall
08:20pick how much do those weigh in versus both these guys have superstar ceilings
08:26i mean all of it factors in i mean i think with both of those guys you know with their
08:31weaknesses
08:31it comes down to how much he can coach that up you know obviously debonsa i i don't think his
08:37shot
08:38is a big concern i mean he shot a not a great percentage from three but there were portions of
08:43the season where he shot really well from three on a good amount of attempts so anytime there's a guy
08:47with a developing shot you got to try to project can we make this better both of them will have
08:52to
08:52improve defensively i mean debonsa was really uh honest about that said he played kind of lazy
08:57off-ball defense and he knows he's not going to be able to do that at the next level peterson
09:01i think
09:02for him it's not just the injuries you got to determine what his position is long term and how
09:07passing factors in he was a very low assist guy so kind of like ace bailey last year is like
09:13okay
09:13can we develop this guy into more than just a scorer but it's interesting because he said he's played
09:17point guard his whole life so i think their teams and the wizards definitely do this we'll have to look
09:23at you know what he did in the aau circuit and in high school to determine if they think he
09:27can
09:27be more of a play playmaker long term which is what he wants to be so they're definitely got to
09:32factor all that in um shooting i i think the wizards you know will dawkins one point or at one
09:38time uh i
09:39thought put it well about shooting where he said you can turn a bad shooter into a good shooter and
09:44a
09:45good shooter into a great shooter but you can't turn a bad shooter into a great shooter so that there's
09:50a
09:50starting point right but both these guys i think have a pretty decent starting point especially
09:54peterson when it comes to that you know some people think point guard means get points guard
10:01i mean i'm shooting it all the time no no point guard i mean you got to make everybody else
10:05get
10:05involved well yeah and um yeah and even even in this day and age you know the point guard position
10:12has changed over the years but some of those same principles certainly apply i'm a big proponent of
10:18size and that's part partially why i'm big on debonsa over peterson but if peterson can play
10:24the point guard position that'd be a pretty big guard almost six six for what he's going to give
10:29you how much does that play into it and you know some of the versatility be peterson's going to be
10:33a
10:33combo guard versus aj debonsa you know if you can work on his defense could potentially guard one
10:38through four and give you a little more versatility just because of his size yeah i mean on the on
10:44the
10:44topic of size i thought uh darren peterson measuring at six four and a half without shoes was a good
10:50sign for him you know again it's hard to tell when you're watching the games on tv that's why scouts
10:54go out and watch these guys in person and you know you talk to nba scouts what a lot of
10:59them will do is
10:59get there for warm-ups and stand on the baseline or stand on the sideline and just try to get
11:04a good
11:04sense of how tall a guy is because you know the colleges aren't necessarily going to be truthful in
11:08that but four and a half without shoes yeah same exact height is uh shea gilders alexander
11:15and devin booker two guys that uh peterson himself compares himself to same exact height
11:20is dylan harper uh last year so he's got he's got positional size certainly at the one i think even
11:26at the two that's tall enough you know it's about six six on the court but yeah i mean debonsa
11:31he he
11:31was taller than i expected he would be at six eight and a half without shoes wilson a little bit
11:36taller boozer's the one guy who was slightly shorter than i thought you compared to what he's
11:40listed at but he has a wingspan and a standing reach uh that stands out and and that's definitely
11:45important you know ultimately it's how close are you to the rim and uh boozer's pretty close what was
11:50his height he was uh a little over six eight without shoes okay um but with a nine foot standing
11:58reach so
11:59he can if he's just flat-footed on the ground he reaches up and he's uh he can reach higher
12:04than
12:04the bonds we can talk about chase hughes here on the rude guest hotline be mitch and finley toby
12:08altizer in for jp want to continue talking about cameron boozer i don't know how much in play he is
12:14at number one but what did you make of watching him going through the combine you know one of the
12:18knocks on him is lack of athleticism compared to some of the other guys and then you see some of
12:23the agility drills and he was able to be just as good if not better than some of the guys
12:27that are
12:27thought to be more athletic than him yeah no that was definitely noteworthy um looking at the lane
12:33agility uh which you know who knows how much it matters but they they do this drill for a reason
12:38right and he was uh same as debonsa better than wilson and better than peterson so you know he's much
12:43bigger than darren peterson but he was more agile at least based on that one drill um so a great
12:48sign
12:48for him because lateral quickness is something you hear people question um also great shooter uh he
12:54looked good in the shooting drills i don't have it in front of me where he ended up ranking but
12:58just a textbook jumper like the arc on his shot is just perfect every single time um so i i
13:03think
13:04that really bodes well because he's 255 pounds and he's got great shooting touch at all three levels
13:10and that's a that's certainly going to play at the the nba level he's been doing it all his life
13:14he
13:14got his dad was like look i guarantee he's been working outside since he was two and that's one of
13:20the things that stands out to me chase is like people knock him and say all right he's not going
13:24to
13:24play bully ball in the pros and he's not going to be able to do it as much as he
13:27did in college but
13:28someone that size can still move people in the league yeah and the shooting touch is really
13:33important because he's not just going to lower his shoulder and push you back if he's going to have
13:38great shooting touch once he gets in a window to shoot you know so i think if he does become
13:44a star
13:45i think a lot of stuff will make sense in hindsight where you look at some of the players his
13:49size around
13:49the league that are stars you know um alper and shangun for instance in houston you know it's the
13:55physical play but also just the touch around the basket um and his passing feel is so impressive i
14:00went to see him play against michigan at capital one arena and i was sitting pretty high up so i
14:05could
14:05see all the angles the way he manipulates the defense and fires accurate passes is very special
14:09especially for his size and his feel for the game and spacing and his basketball iq i feel like you
14:15only
14:15see that level of feel from a guy whose parent was a pro like you see it from like luca
14:21like steph curry
14:23dylan harper has that like the the types of guys who you knew were in uh basketball gyms when they
14:28were
14:29in diapers was acuff here there yeah darius acuff was there and had the fastest three-quarter sprints
14:36um in the combine faster than john wall faster than about the same as derrick rose so he's extremely fast
14:45and he looked really good in the shooting drills which of course was not surprising yeah do you
14:49think we were talking about the trade earlier is there any chance that it would be anything
14:54more than they would move back further than two like it feels like to me if they're going to trade
14:58it's going to be with jazz to make sure that they keep themselves in the either peterson or debonsa
15:03sweepstakes they wouldn't move back further than two unless there's just a ridiculous offer that
15:07would be unforeseen right yeah that'd be my guess i can't rule it out but it would be pretty
15:13surprising i mean you know you get the number one pick um and we'll see how this develops over the
15:20next few weeks but it does seem like there's two prospects who've separated themselves between aj
15:24debonsa and darren peterson to go back to three or four would be surprising but you know michael winger
15:30did say that right now they're evaluating three or four guys for this spot so you know maybe they
15:34fall in love with cameron boozer or caleb wilson and feel like that's the guy and whatever they can get
15:39in addition you know makes it worth moving back but i would definitely consider that unlikely
15:44especially if you look at the history of the draft it's not common that teams do that what do you
15:48make of some of the people talking about the way they've been talking about caleb wilson with some
15:52of the discussion of him looking like a young kevin garnett i think it was lou williams said or i
15:57forget
15:58exactly who it was sean kemp was saying that you know you've heard sean kemp someone was saying he's got
16:02a ceiling of like a yannis what are your thoughts on caleb wilson because i think if they were to
16:07move
16:07back further than two which i don't think is likely but if so i would love to see caleb wilson
16:13yeah i mean i like caleb wilson a lot um you know it's interesting because the other guys have
16:18overshadowed him offensively but he still scored 20 points a game last year at north carolina on
16:23really good efficiency just didn't make his threes and he's the best defender i think or at least has
16:28the highest ceiling as a defensive player of the top four guys he averaged about one and a half blocks
16:33and one and a half steals per game last season which is extremely rare like i ran the numbers like
16:39only two guys did that last year's freshman it was cooper flag and thomas sorber so he's a great
16:45athlete and he's got really active hands and a good motor and so like as far as a just a
16:50canvas to mold
16:51i think on defense he's got the most selling points of these guys kevin garnett probably a little bit
16:56taller um but you know caleb wilson said that he sees that comparison and you know he um i i
17:03think
17:04what stands out to me is the athleticism and that was confirmed with the 40 inch vertical leap
17:08and sean kemp you mentioned that name that's someone who i would compare him to just in terms of the
17:13power and the force when he can throw down dunks so i don't know if he's going to be you
17:17know going
17:17to the wizards of course they have a chance to pick higher than he's projected to go but if they
17:22did
17:22get him and you pair him with trey young that would be pretty fun i think it would be reminiscent
17:27of
17:27like chris paul and blake griffin and lob city last thing not to put you on the spot but if
17:32you're
17:32making the pick at number one who you taking i would lean to bansa um you know i i think
17:41it's very
17:42close if you look at the mock drafts but he's projected to go one and more of them than not
17:47um and
17:48he just checks off so many boxes i've been so impressed with him all year um just in terms of
17:54the size and the athleticism which we now know is even better than we thought the offensive skill
17:59set what he can do off the dribble how he can score at multiple levels and then just the intangibles
18:04seem to be great i mean the competitive edge you can see that just by watching a half of a
18:09game that
18:09he plays in you know he's very very intense on the court seems to love the game of basketball take
18:15it
18:15very seriously so if you're talking about a super athlete who also loves the game you know that's
18:20what you look for but um i could also make the case for peterson and i think it's really really
18:25close between those two guys well chase great coverage out in chicago appreciate you joining us
18:29for a couple of minutes absolutely guys have a great weekend
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